Loyalties
by ellariasand
Summary: Choices on where one's loyalties will lie is something everyone must go through. Maria will have to decide where her loyalty will lie, and that choice will come with consequences. Chibs/OC. EDITED.
1. Chapter 1

"_I have a feeling my mother wanted me to leave Charming, but I was too stubborn to leave her alone. If I had done what she wanted, she __wouldn't have held on for this long."_

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><p>Maria had seen him before.<p>

She had seen him riding with two other choppers as they rode past the small market her mother owned. Though she could never catch sight of their cuts, she knew they were a part of that motorcycle club.

It was a cool afternoon when she had stepped outside of the market in order to smoke a cigarette. Her cousins were busy unloading the rest of the supply, and so she took the chance to have a quiet moment to herself. The breeze fluttered around her and she used that to help drown out the sounds of the music they had chosen to play. It was a part of her culture, but it didn't share her taste of music.

She usually smoked once in a while and for some reason this seemed like the perfect opportunity. She lit up a match and held the tiny orange flame to the end of her Virginia Slim while slowly inhaling. The wind blew out the small flame.

Maria used the tips of her index and thumb to pull away the cigarette just as the motorcycles had come within her vision. All three of them had decided to take up the empty spaces just outside the market, and with a scowl she continued to lean against the window of the building. She was watching them with the utmost inquisitive look—questioning on their sudden appearance here.

It was almost comical the way they had removed their helmets in sync. She would have made a crack at that if it hadn't been for the middle biker who had suddenly turned his head around to stare at her.

It was the same guy.

The same one who often lead the trio on their rounds just past her mother's market.

Maria noticed him and the way he seemed to be eyeing her from behind those dark shades. She prayed that they wouldn't be coming into her mother's store because if they did, and if _they _found out, shit would go down.

Sure _Lupe's Market _was on Charming ground, but the Mayans practically came in and out daily. Today would be no different for Marcus and Alfonso to stop by.

_Better make it fast biker boy_.

_Sons of Anarchy _adorned the back of his leather vest followed by _California_ right underneath the patch of a Grim Reaper. He got off his bike and walked over to where she was at. The other two bikers remained seated on their bikes, and merely watched their friend as he approached her. She could've sworn she saw one of them eyeing her as well. Though in a different way than his friend had.

"Good afternoon, darlin'," a thick Scottish accent laced his words as he came to a stop in front the store.

"Good day." Maria remained polite just as her mother had taught her. Being rude would lead her nowhere, and it would earn her a bad rap with this crew.

He moved the sunglasses up his forehead giving the woman a chance to see the eyes behind the shades. Her brown eyes connected with his as a smirk played upon his lips. It was then that Maria noticed his facial scars on his cheeks. She was surprised she hadn't noticed them sooner, but it was most likely due to the fact that they weren't visible at a distance.

The Scottish biker diverted his gaze back to the store before stepping inside.

_Shit_.

Maria quickly stomped out her cigarette before turning around to go in just as he had. She didn't even notice the other two bikers had left their seats in order to scout the area.

She found him at the fruit section of the market. His gloved hands began scouting through the various items. He weighed each one in his large palm before dropping it and moving onto the next one.

"Maybe I can help," she offered as he turned his attention to her, "tell you which ones are good, ripe even."

He was still sporting that smirk before biting down in the granny smith apple he held in his palm. "Nay, I think I'll take this one."

Had she been paying attention outside she would have seen Opie and Tig making their way towards the back.

The biker causally reached inside his vest, and Maria tensed up before he pulled out a leather wallet.

"Relax darlin'," he said, "I ain't about to hurt a woman."

Realizing that he was about to pull out money, she had then summoned the will to hold up a hand in objection. "It's on the house."

It was then the Scottish biker had arched an eyebrow in her direction.

"I'd rather pay for it," he held up the apple to her eye level. "It's nothing compared to the shit I taste."

Maria had soon realized that her brothers were on their way. Although they were stationed in Oakland, they would make their daily trips out to Charming to "check" up on her and their mother.

Well, shit, they were the reason why both women moved to Charming in the first place. They weren't doing anything to be less of a burden to her—full well knowing of her health condition. It was better that she was there managing the place while making up excuses to discourage her brothers from visiting their mother.

"Consider it on the house," she urged with a small smile. "As a token for my respect for your patch."

He retained his smirk as his eyes wandered over her shoulder and watched as his two brothers made their way back to the bikes. He had then stuck the apple in his mouth so his teeth would hold onto it, and then he casually pulled out a single dollar bill and placed it where the apple had once been.

Taking another bite he had then held the fruit between his fingers before walking around Maria. "Keep the change, darlin'."

Her eyes were on the dollar bill, but her ears picked up on the sound of the bell above the door ringing before it slammed shut. The youngest Alvarez listened to the laughs the trio shared just as they claimed the bikes once more. The three had then ridden off down the street and away from the store.

And then they were gone.

She knew little of the _Sons of Anarchy _but their reputation was enough influence to instill either fear or respect in the citizens of Charming. She didn't know where she fell on that side of the line just yet.

Maria Alvarez would see him again.

Though, it would be under unpleasant circumstances.

* * *

><p>"You should've let me talked to her. I have a way with Latin chicks."<p>

"You would've been easing her onto the counter and had your dick out by the time we came out front."

Filip "Chibs" Telford had finished off the remainder of the apple before tossing it to the side of the curb. He licked his lips to rid of the excess juices before pushing his sunglasses back down. He looked over just in time to catch the look Tig had sent his way to which he responded by cracking a grin at him. With the scars on the sides of his mouth, it added a much more grisly appearance to his face.

"He has a point," Opie added while securing his helmet. "The plan was to scope out the back. Five minutes tops."

"I would've been done in five minutes," Tig retorted which had only caused both Chibs and Opie to chuckle at the retort.

Once he realized what he had said, Tig quickly let out a sardonic laugh and secured his own helmet. "Go ahead and laugh, assholes."

"Always thought yer were a one minute man," Chibs grinned. "You proved me wrong, brother."

"Fuck you."

In unison they had all started their bikes and Chibs had turned back to look at the Alvarez woman. She was still standing where he had left her no doubt still with that look of utter confusion still present on her features.

Tig went first, followed by Opie, and soon Chibs followed right after.

Chibs had a feeling that he would return as soon as they relayed their findings to Clay. He hoped that she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire least something should go wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

_"And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business."-Hyman Roth, The Godfather: Part II._

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><p>"How's mama?"<p>

"Fine."

Her black ballpoint pen was writing down the list of numbers that she had calculated from the day's pay. Business was slow for the first day that week, but it would slowly begin to increase as the weekend drew nearer. That being said, Maria focused on recording the amounts of money rather than make small talk with her two older brothers.

She knew that Alfonso was glaring at her; anyone with a pair could see that. Marcus, however, was trying to keep his patience in check but with her brushing off his comments it wasn't beginning to sit well with him. He had always taken her snide comments and ignored them even though he desperately wanted to slap her.

Out of anger, he slammed one of his heavy palms down upon the ivory counter-top which had initiated the reaction he was hoping for. Fear. Though, Maria never quite showed it willingly this move had made sure that it kept his sister in check.

"You look me in the eyes when you answer my question."

It wasn't a suggestion; it was a straight out demand. Something she was used to after growing up with them.

They and her father often ruled the household with an iron fist over her and her mother. After her father's death, her mother had moved the two of them to Charming without giving the boys information of the move.

Maria played it to his liking as she set the pen down on the book and gazed up to meet her brother's gaze. "She forgets to take her meds, and she tries to fight me whenever I try to give her the shot. It won't be long before she develops something else."

"Can't you put her in a retirement home?" Alfonso asked just as her gaze shifted to him.

"Put our mama in a retirement home?" The suggestion was cruel and he knew it. Their mother would rather die in a home where her family was than die in a place where she knew no one. "You know how she is, she won't stand for it."

"La _vieja _isn't all there in the head right now, Maria," Marcus pressed his index finger down on the counter-top while tapping it once. "You need to think about what's best for you."

"You mean for you," she corrected as her attention drifted from brother to brother. "I know what you guys want; you need this store to conduct your illegal bullshit. Well, not here. Find somewhere else, _hermanos_."

Alfonso had switched from a relaxed position against the counter to pressing his palms flat against the surface. His identical brown eyes burned a flame into hers. He had always done that whenever she pressed his buttons, and it had always kept her in her place.

A hand pressed against his chest.

Marcus eased him out of his sister's face just as she released a small breath. Silently thanking him for trying to put their brother back into a state of calm rather than rage.

Marcus had then turned to his youngest sibling; his eyes, however, were no different than his brother's. "You can't hold onto mama's dying dream forever, Maria. We're doing this to take this dump off your hands _hermana_."

"This **dump **is the only thing she looks forward to whenever she has the strength to get out of bed. You're not taking it from her -" Maria's eyes darted back to meet Alfonso's. "- or me."

"_Perra_!" Alfonso hissed the word out before Marcus could stop him.

The insult had her hand clutching the fabric of her thigh to keep it from right-hooking Alfonso. "_Cabrón_."

"Enough!"

A turn of his wrist had given him a clear view of the face of his golden watch. He looked in between the two before giving Alfonso a few good smacks on his chest.

"_Salir a la calle._"

He nodded at his older sibling before giving his sister another glare. He turned around and headed straight for the exit leaving both Marcus and Maria alone in the market. It was then that the Mayan president placed a warm, gentle hand onto her shoulder. A sign that would have been taken as affection had it not been for the sudden look he got in his eyes.

She admitted that he could be quite intimidating. The way Marcus was acting reminded her of how their father used to treat them.

"That mouth," he began, "is gonna get you killed by him. There's only so much I can do. I can't control what he does."

She knew that was a lie.

They were family and family didn't let their members kill each other. Maria couldn't tell him that fact because she knew what her brothers and the Mayans were capable of. It scared her to believe that they could off her at any given moment.

"_Lo siento_," she answered while masking her tone. "He just pisses me off. I don't want bad blood between us, Marcus, but I'm not ready to give up the market. Not when it means so much to her."

His hand gave her a reassuring squeeze before both of his large hands cupped her face. His lips pressed a small kiss to her forehead before he stepped away and made his way to the exit. No goodbyes, no anything. Maria watched them leave from her post behind the counter. Her hands had then gathered the loose strands of black hair into a bun before securing it with a band.

She busied herself for the next twenty minutes by unloading the remainder of the crates into the empty spaces of each section. It was then that Maria began slamming down the produce with more force than necessary while trying so hard to calm herself. She knew that they were just bullying her into giving up the market. Not only that, but they couldn't do anything to her with their mother still around.

_How long would that be?_

A short, gasp of breath left her lungs as she tried to keep herself in check. She didn't need her cousins seeing her like this; broken, crying, fearing someone else besides God.

"You alright?"

Maria jumped in surprise and turned towards the door. There, accompanied by two other men, was a man with shoulder-length blond hair. He was her age, no doubt about it, even though his facial features could easily be mistaken for being younger. How could she not have heard them come into her store? She noticed the bikes parked outside and still could not believe she had been so absorbed in her own dilemma to not hear them.

She quickly rose to her feet as her eyes scanned over the two behind him. The Scottish man was there, along with another guy she had never seen before.

"I'm okay," she gazed down. "Onions. Gets you every goddamn time."

He seemed to take her word for it as she made her way behind the counter. "Now, what can I do for you?"

It appeared that he led the trio as they made their way to the front. Her eyes drifted to the Scotsman who had decided to lean against the glass of where the meat section was. His attention solely focused on her. Though she couldn't see his eyes, she imagined that they still held that friendly warmth they exerted to her the day before.

"This business," the blond began, "are you associated with the Mayans?"

"My name is _Maria._" She introduced. A sly smile working onto her lips as the blond man tapped his knuckles against the counter.

"Jax, and that's all you need to know."

"Fair enough."

"Mayan stronghold?" Jax asked again as she shook her head.

"Just because their family doesn't mean they run this business. I do."

"Why are they coming in and out of Charming on a regular basis?" It had been the Scotsman who had asked the question to which she acknowledged by turning to him.

Wanting to work this in SAMCRO's favor, he waved his gloved hand at her. "Chibs."

As a small distraction to slow her erratic heartbeat, she had smoothed her bangs away from her eyes. "It's a way of checking up on me and mother. We moved here from Oakland a year ago."

"We know that already," Jax said. "Is that all they do?"

"Yeah."

Being nervous often made her lace her fingers together. Her thumbs would then rub against one another and her eyes would bounce from one thing to another. He seemed to know this, and so did Chibs; she was sure that all of them were aware of her movements.

Jax's clear blue eyes shined with something other than what she was used to. He was trying to get the truth out of her, but he was trying to do it in a way that wouldn't result to violence. She could tell that he would rather avoid the trouble. His rectangular patch just above his right breast pocket indicated his status of the club.

She suddenly disliked having all eyes on her. "They've been trying to get me to hide their shit. Use this store as a front for their activity and expansion."

"On Charming ground. Christ." Chibs muttered.

Jax nodded as he seemed to take the new information in, and his hand reached up to tap at the blond stubble on his chin. Chibs then turned around and leaned against the glass case with his arms folded in front of him.

"Well then," Jax began with a small smirk. "How about we make a little deal?"

Maria's eyebrow rose up in curiosity and leaned forward on her arms. "A deal?

He nodded. "Yeah, darling. You lend us your market to store our guns for the time being, we cut you in. 80/20."

"What?"

"Juice."

The biker that had stood at the far right had suddenly approached the counter-top. He gave a nervous wave and a smile to go along with it before taking out a folded up paper from the back pocket of his jeans.

His hand slid it over to her which Maria had grabbed and opened the paper to reveal a schematic of her mother's store. She looked up and made eye contact with Chibs before looking down at the map again.

Long, narrow, dark shaded lines ran right underneath where they were currently standing, as indicated on the map. She recognized that these were the tunnels that ran underneath the property.

She already knew of their existence.

_Explains everything._

"Old prohibition tunnels that run five miles north and exit in a wooded area not that far from here," the one nicknamed Juice explained. "There are all kinds of hidden trap doors around the market too. If we were to look in the right places."

Maria re-folded the map and handed it back to him just as she saw Chibs coming to stand right beside Jax.

With his arm draped over the counter, he leaned his full weight against it as his eyes watched her from behind those sunglasses. It was probably a scare tactic if she couldn't see his eyes, then she couldn't see what was going on in his mind.

Her decision would have to be made right then and there. And she knew full well that her two choices had no good outcome to either one.

"If," Maria's hand laid flat down against the surface. "I say no..."

"We tear this place apart."

Chibs grinned again. "Brick by brick, love."

"If my brothers find out-"

"Hey," Jax said, "if it's protection you want, you got it. Of course, that would shorten your percentage, but to your advantage."

"It's not protection I'm looking for. They come here daily—four pm sharp. If they spot you and your boys here, you know it won't be good for the both of us."

"Come up with something they'll believe. Anything you throw at them, they'll eat it up like hungry dogs."

"Then make my cut 30."

His calm face easily slid into a mask of cold indifference. "You don't get to negotiate that percent."

"My mother's store is of value," she continued, "to you guys, anyway. If something happens to me, god forbid, the Mayans will pull this store away from you. Then they'll gain a part of Charming's land. Right?"

"You going somewhere with this?"

"The lease is in my mother's name, but she named me her beneficiary. If I fall off the face of the earth it goes straight to the next blood in line. My cousins? They're here on green cards."

It was then that Jax pulled away along with Chibs. The three of them moved towards the exit of the store and huddled around in a tight circle to discuss the deal and the new facts.

"She's got a point," Juice began. "She's taking a risk as it is talking to us."

"She doesn't call the shots," Jax countered. "And we don't negotiate with the enemy."

Chibs pulled out a carton of cigarettes he had in his front pocket. He reached in and produced a single stick before taking out a match to light it. "No one will be looking for our guns here. The cops know the store is clean. We've been watchin' them come in and out."

"No smoking in here." Maria called out to which Chibs replied by striking the match and lighting it much to her displeasure.

Jax shook his head and made his way back to the counter with Chibs and Juice flanking both sides. "Twenty. Anything above that and we'll torch the place."

"My brothers -"

"You can still keep your _loyalty _to them." He laid heavy emphasize on the word, and all it did was annoy her.

The woman shook her head as she folded her hands together once again. Pressing her forehead against them she inhaled a lump sum of air through her nostrils before exhaling.

"It's not loyalty," she retorted in a calm voice. "It's fear of what they'll do if they ever find out about this deal. I know I'm doing this to spite him, but it doesn't mean that I don't fear what that iron fist will do to me."

"He—and the Mayans—won't know about our little arrangement. We'll keep it on the down low, and a SAMCRO member will be staying here to keep up appearances."

"Appearances assuming that I hired SAMCRO members because illegals were becoming expensive?"

At this, Jax's business front had completed melted away into a care-free grin. "Whatever you come up with. We'll bring in what we got after closing, and we'll bring in the next shipment tomorrow morning."

"My cousins go to the bay area to pick up fresh stock every day at three."

"Sounds good."

"In the morning."

Jax blew out a short whistle but never broke his calm. "We'll be there."

Maria nodded and then drummed her fingertips against the counter before giving a small, uncertain smile. "Alright, we have a deal."

The VP of the Sons of Anarchy shook her hand while giving the place a once over. As he released her grip he caught sight of the double doors behind her which would lead to the back area of the market. His smile never faltered as he turned around to face his fellow brothers. A pat on each of their shoulders was a gesture for them to head out and report back to Clay that the deal was set in stone. However, Jax's hand reached out to grab Chibs's elbow as he pulled him close so that he would be the only one to hear.

"Stay here, find all of the spaces and call me back." Chibs's other hand patted Jax's upper arm before he began to make his way back. He suddenly caught sight of his VP's blue eyes passing the Scotsman a mutual look of understanding.

"You watch her like a hawk. She never leaves your sight. We don't want our new business partner to get any ideas in double-crossing us."

Chibs turned his head and caught sight of the woman looking back at him.

He made sure that they had eye contact before he squeezed Jax's arm once again to let him know he understood. "You got it Jacky-boy. She ain't leaving my sight; not while I'm here."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I honestly never thought I would become so engrossed in _Sons of Anarchy_. Not only is the story-line impressive as hell, but the characters leave a memorable impression. I'm really glad you guys like this so far. Thanks to the three reviewers and the people that added this to their alerts/favorites. More to come over the weekend._

_Disclaimer: I don't own _Sons of Anarchy_. This show belongs to Kurt Sutter. Any other characters not seen in the show, I own. 'Tis only for entertainment purposes._


	3. Chapter 3

_"Quit moping around like you're some goddamn victim. You're a woman for Christ's sake, and being a woman means you gotta handle your shit with dignity."_

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><p>She couldn't quite understand it.<p>

Maria looked back at him only to catch him watching her over the top of his sunglasses. He must've thought that he was hot shit. He continued to sit there on the stool beside her—watching her with those intense brown eyes, almost waiting for her to respond with a remark.

"Jacky-boy wanted me to hang around," Chibs said as though that's what was bothering her, "hope you don't mind."

Why would she mind? She was on their payroll now, and if Jax wanted to leave a member behind to "keep up appearances" then that was fine by her. So long as the Scotsman wasn't going to be a dick to her the entire time. So far he wasn't.

She closed the register and upon seeing only four customers shopping around Maria turned to look at him. "Are we gonna look for the compartments?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment before pursing his lips in a thin line. "Forgot 'bout that."

She nodded while grabbing the keys from the register. "I'll have Alicia cover the front."

Maria pushed open the double doors while holding one of them open for Chibs to enter. Once he caught hold of it she spotted her cousin and motioned her over just as the outlaw stepped inside the back.

Alicia was a small girl of seventeen with her short black hair in a French braid. She appeared shy, but Maria knew her cousin better than that. Her brown eyes shifted from her to Chibs just as she stopped in front of her.

"I need you to watch the front. Don't get distracted by the local _vatos_ that come here."

She brushed her off with a typical rolling of the eyes. "I do my job."

Once her cousin sauntered off towards the doors, she turned and saw that Chibs was leaning against the wall. His eyes scanned the teen from top to bottom as she passed through the exit to the front.

She couldn't decipher his look, but hell, no biker was going to try and bed her little cousin. "She's seventeen."

His eyes snapped over to her in an instant. "I'm not interested in babies. She's got a mouth, like her _cousin_."

Maria shook her head at him before purposely stomping her foot on the floor. She shuffled to the right and stomped again with more force this time. Chibs watched with the slightest look of amusement as he pushed himself off the wall. He continued to watch her as she moved from space to space stomping her boots against the floor along the way. It wasn't long before he started doing the same thing in his proximity.

"It's probably reinforced with somethin'," Chibs assumed. "Makes it harder to find it."

It was then that Maria had gotten down on her hands and knees. Her hands pressed into the floor, desperate to find something out of the ordinary. She resulted in using her knuckles to try and find a hollow spot in the ground around her. Chibs had pressed his hands against one side of the wall with his own fingers looking for any sort of hollow spot.

He had turned his head to say something to her, but the words died on his tongue. Maria was facing away from him which resulted in her giving him a full view of her backside. It hadn't been a long time since he'd been serviced—in fact, he had gotten laid two days ago. The sight of her in such a position, however, brought his arousal to full peak.

Chibs snapped himself out of it, and cleared his throat to ward off the inappropriate thoughts. He dropped to a crouch and curled his fingers into a loose fist before using his knuckles to knock against the floor.

His eyebrows perked up. "Marie, I think I found out."

She looked back at him from her position. With his sunglasses shielding his eyes, she hadn't noticed the way he was eyeing her backside once again. She rose to her knees and stood up before making her way over to where he was crouched. The back part of the store seemed like a legit place to build the entrance to the tunnel.

"You found the hatch? You're sure you can get it open?"

"Worth a shot," he muttered and pulled out his switchblade from his back pocket.

Sticking the blade in the thin crevice of the hatch he began moving it back and forth. The hatch groaned in protest as Chibs managed to pry it loose.

"Oh, she didn't like that!" He grinned while using the blade to open the hatch up. Maria's fingers curled around the edge as she helped him lift it up. A sudden ball of brown dust speckled onto their clothing. It made her frown as she cussed herself out for deciding to wear a black blouse that day.

The lid fell from their grasp and slammed against the floor with a loud crash, startling the boys who had been loading the meat into the freezer. She looked back and offered them an apologetic look before turning back to the biker.

Chibs's grin remained on his face. He pushed his sunglasses up his forehead with the tip of his finger while peering down the dirt hole. "Jax's gonna like this. Looks like we found our temporary storage."

"God," she waved the cloud of dust away from her face. "Shit must have stayed sealed shut since the thirties."

He waved away the brown cloud while setting down his knife. "Looks that way." An earthy odor arose similar to the scent of a dirt ground just after a storm. "The tunnel looks about six feet deep."

Reaching into his front pocket, he pulled out a lighter and used his thumb to rotate the small gear to light it. Chibs had then used it to light the dark abyss before them. "Almost like a grave."

Whether it was meant to scare her or not, Maria hadn't been paying attention. "Will this be wide enough to fit your shit down there?"

"I don't know," his gaze traveled up to catch her look. "Let's find out."

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Both of them had looked up in time to see someone coming through the double doors with Alicia right on their heels. He was a lanky white kid with dark blond curly hair sitting in a bundle atop his head. The hair matched the stubble growing along his chin and jawline.

A smack to the back of his head brought Maria back to reality as Alicia kept up her assault.

"Hey!" She walked over towards the two just as the kid was trying to get her wrists in his grip. "Knock it off!"

His back was to her, giving her full view of his black leather vest. The word Prospect was visible to her before she stepped forward and managed to keep her cousin at arm's length.

"He's alright. They're just helping me."

"Sam crow," Alicia said while submitting to her cousin and folded her arms over her chest. "You know what's gonna happen if Marcus finds out?"

Maria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "He's not if you keep your mouth shut."

"Prospect!" Chibs called out while waving him over with his gloved hand. "Come over here. Ya need to help me with somethin'."

The prospect gave a nod in Maria's direction before bounding over to where the Scotsman was. She noticed that her cousin was giving both men a cautious stare. Maria was aware that her cousin was worried that the Mayans would see the SAMCRO members here. If that happened, blood would be spilled and the youngest Alvarez took that into consideration.

Her mother's cousins wouldn't be caught in the crossfire if that were to happen, she promised herself. She would make sure that they wouldn't be the victims of her deal. Having second thoughts about this whole thing was beginning to make her feel as though what she had done would only end up with her dead.

She shook her head while trying to clear away the thoughts. "Go back out front."

Alicia's eyes drifted to her with that same look still in place, and without another word she turned back towards the doors.

Maybe it wasn't so bad having the SAMCRO members here. It would surely make her hours interesting and it would change up her normal routine. A frown came to her face as she remembered that her mother had a checkup tomorrow morning. How would Maria be able to juggle that?

She turned back around and saw that Chibs was talking to the kid while pointing down the tunnel. By the look on the kid's face, it appeared that he wasn't too happy of going down into the unknown. Who could blame him? She wouldn't go down there either.

The prospect's eyes gleamed with uncertainty as his superior explained the layout to him. "What if there are rats in there man?"

Chibs smiled. "You shoot 'em."

The kid blanched. "You said this shit must've been sealed off for a while."

"You got to get down and dirty prospect. That's why you're here. It's for the club." Upon mentioning the club it appeared that the prospect's doubts were draining away.

Is that how the Sons of Anarchy kept their members in check? By constantly reminding them that what they were doing was for the sake of the club?

Maria didn't care to know. "What's your name?"

"His name's Half-Sack because he's only got one nut." Chibs held out his index finger to emphasize on the fact.

Maria's lips pursed into a thin line at the statement, but Half-Sack's face indicated that he was used to the guys answering for him. Not only that, but she imagined that Chibs and the guys probably shared a mutual good-natured joke in pointing it out to their prospect.

"Half-sack...nice name," she mused with a small smile.

Her attention went towards her new "employee", his scars suddenly bringing her curiosity to a full front. "Why do they call you Chibs?"

The Scotsman's eyes turned on her. He picked up his hand and let his finger trail along the side of his left cheek where one of the two scars was located. Unbeknownst to her, the sudden memory of how he had gotten them reared its ugly head.

"My scars. Done by a knife," she didn't notice the way he was carefully choosing his words. "In my homeland scars and knives are called 'chibs'."

Now that he mentioned it, it seemed like whoever did that to him intended to do a Glasgow smile. Maria remembered in her history course that it was something common among criminals in Scotland. Chibs's scars were done in a botched fashion, but it had probably gotten the point across to him at the time.

Maria managed to give him a sympathetic look, but he paid no mind. Instead, his attention was fixated on telling the prospect where to go. "Get down there and see where the tunnel leads."

"Can I least take a flashlight or something?" Half-Sack asked.

The patched member of the Sons gave him an irritated look before tossing his small pocket lighter to him. "I want it back."

Half-Sack gripped the lighter in one hand and lowered himself into the hole. Before Maria knew it, he had disappeared into the dark abyss, the only sounds of his existence were his shoes walking along the dirt path. He followed it like a soldier, never once coming up out of the hole to back out. She wouldn't have gone down there, if there were rats then she wasn't about to go and give them a warm greeting.

Chibs lowered himself to the floor with his hands gripping the edge. His eyes trained on the shadows almost as if he was expecting the prospect to come running back. "If it's like what Juice said then it's got to be five miles."

Maria made a sound of acknowledgement as she stepped closer. "Maybe I should've went with the kid."

"He's a prospect for a reason, darlin'. He needs to do shit he doesn't wanna be doin'," Chibs pointed out, his attention still fixated down the tunnel. "Move it prospect! I think I see a figure followin' close behind ya!"

"That's not funny!" Came a shout two seconds later.

"I think it's Nessie comin' after your only nut!"

Maria smiled at the taunts despite wanting to remain neutral. After all, this was supposed to be business. Being around the two bikers seemed like it was meant to be. However, she couldn't see herself becoming involved with a biker, she was aware of what they did. Being an Old Lady, that took guts and true devotion to that one man she would be faithful to. Even though that would mean there would be a chance that he wouldn't be faithful to her.

A whistle snapped her out of her daze and Maria instantly made eye contact with Chibs. "Did you hear me?"

"I'm sorry," she shook her head. "I was thinking of some things."

"I said that's a nice tattoo you have."

"What?" She brought her left wrist up and saw the reminder that would be with her until death. "Oh…this."

Chibs noticed the bitterness in her tone. "What is it?"

_Mi Vida Loca._

Maria regretted getting the damn ink on her skin, but it was her rebellious streak that made her get it. It wasn't because she had a troubled home life; true, her father and brothers had been overbearing, but it wasn't as extreme as she believed. She knew that deep down they cared and loved her and her mother.

It was just the Alpha male ego that pissed her off at the time.

"My crazy life," she read the intricate cursive. "It means that I grew up in a crazy lifestyle."

"Your accent seems to wave in and out when it wants." It seemed like Chibs enjoyed jumping from one subject to another.

Her eyebrows pulled together as her forehead creased in slight confusion. "My accent? It's there all the time."

"No," he disagreed. "When you're on the defense it comes in full force, but when you're comfortable it dies out."

She stopped short of readying her own retort to counter him. A cheap defense mechanism she adapted over the years, but it worked to her liking most of the time. In this case, she didn't know what to say to him.

Had she really not notice her own damn accent after all this time? It had to take a SAMCRO member to point that out to her?

Maria didn't know what to say, but she didn't have to. Chibs had pulled himself off the floor and onto his feet. His gloved hands lightly smacked against each other to rid of the dust that had covered the floor in a thin sheet of brown specks. He then pulled out a cellphone from his back pocket and flipped it open before his thumbs began punching in random numbers.

She turned to walk to her office in a brisk pace, the click of her heels the only thing heard in the large area. Once she reached her private area she firmly shut the door and pressed her back against it.

Maria's mind once again began fathoming the repercussions that would occur if this backfired on her. She would lose everything she had, not to mention the cops and the feds would be all over this place like flies to a pile of crap.

If her brothers ever found out, she would never be seen again. Dramatic, but it was the truth. However, the same applied to the Sons if she ever thought about ratting them out to the cops or her brothers.

Would Chibs be tasked with silencing her? Her fingers pulled down the shades and found that he was pacing around the hole while talking on the phone.

She wouldn't doubt it.

* * *

><p>The moment Jax Teller picked up his phone he knew instantly that it had to be Chibs.<p>

Whether it would be good news or bad the vice president couldn't predict it. If this plan to make Alvarez SAMCRO's partner was a bad move then shit would backfire on him and the club. No doubt that his step-father, Clay Morrow, would instantly regret tasking him with the duty to find an alternate storage area for their guns.

His thoughts were right as he heard the distinct accent on the other line as soon as he answered. "We found it."

"How big?"

He heard Chibs lowering his voice to some degree. "Six feet deep, four feet wide. The prospect's looking for the light at the end of the tunnel."

Jax frowned at his statement, thinking momentarily that something happened to their prospect, but his sudden worry was quashed as Chibs began laughing. "He's been gone for fifteen minutes and we still haven't heard a squeal."

"You mean there's a goddamn tunnel that leads somewhere?"

"Aye," Chibs said, "maybe outside of Charming."

"Shit, that'll help us make a quick getaway if things go bad."

"Yeah,"- a short pause on the other end of the line - "our new friend seems to get the idea."

The comment prompted Jax to raise an eyebrow surprise. "You think she might try to rat us out to Alvarez?"

"No, from the way she's been acting it looks like she ain't that close with him."

"Alright. Finish up there, leave the prospect behind to watch her and then come back to the clubhouse. We still gotta sell this idea to the rest of the club."

"Alright, Jacky-boy."

Jax closed his phone and continued to sit atop his bike. His face revealed nothing to the inner struggle that was taking place within him. He weighed the pros and cons with the idea of having the woman store their guns. Sure it may have seemed like the perfect place, but the fact was she was still linked to the Mayans haunted his conscience.

One fuck up and the plan would crumble before his very eyes. Clay would do god knows what to him, and the club would forever remember the screw up that Jackson Teller had bestowed upon them.

"What's the matter baby?"

A motherly voice called out to him, far too motherly to be that of one of the crow-eaters hanging about. Jax turned and saw his mother - Gemma Morrow - walking towards him; coffee cup in hand while the other held her sunglasses. The woman came to a halt just before his bike, her expression soft but still held the hard lines of the fierce Matriarch of the club.

"Thinking," he responded while pulling out a cigarette from his pocket.

"You told Clay about that deal you made yet?" His mother had asked. Worry evident upon her features despite the fact that she had a good idea of how her son had impulsive tendencies at times.

He shook his head which only made Gemma's lips purse into a thin line. "Gonna bring it up to a vote once Chibs gets here."

The hand holding her sunglasses went to her hip. The worry changed to a look of impatience almost immediately. "You _know_ how pissed off Clay's gonna be once he finds out you did this without letting him know."

Jax lit his cigarette while sparing his mother a glance. "He already knows about her and the store."

"Well, no shit," she retorted. "Everyone knows. The fact is that bitch can't be trusted; her family is the goddamn Mayans for Christ's sake."

"Mom, you just gotta trust me on this."

It sometimes infuriated him that his mother assumed he never thought things through. He wasn't a teenager anymore—he was a man now, and whatever decisions he made he would live with them for the rest of his life. Jax didn't blindly throw his trust into Maria Alvarez, but what he did know was that this would work in Sam Crow's favor. Having someone linked to the other club would mean that it would be easier to dig up some dirt should they ever need it.

Of course, his mother didn't know of his true motives just yet.

Gemma walked over to his side and held out her free hand to cup the side of her son's face. "I know Jax." She bent down and kissed the side of his face before pulling away from him. "Just make sure you know what you're doing."

His blue eyes squinted up at her due to the position of the sun. "I always do."


	4. Chapter 4

_"Suspicion why torture me?"-Elvis Presley._

* * *

><p>Chibs inhaled a long drag from his cigarette.<p>

His dark eyes darting from Jax to Clay whenever he blew out the smoke. The two men shared some traits in common, one of them were the blue eyes. So similar but at the same time so different on many levels. The Scotsman noticed the way Jax's eyes seemed to always gleam with undisturbed serenity. Clay's blue hues, however, told a different story about the man. They held deep knowledge as well as a fiercity that Jax's could never expect to have.

"Mind explaining to me why you did this without a club vote?" Clay's tone held malevolence as his large finger tapped on the cigar.

Jax sat forward with his fingers laced together; the tips of his fingers brushing over the heavy rings that adorned the other hand. "Acting on it now would mean that we've got the upper hand and a temporary place to store our guns."

Clay didn't seem to take his word for it. Chibs's guess was Clay probably thinking that the Jax had done so without being rational; his mind merely set on the goal of securing this assest. At least, that's what Chibs assumed anyway.

"How the hell are you so sure that the place is legit?"

Once seeing those blue eyes flash to him, Chibs took the oppritunity to defend Jax's claim. "It's busy almost all the time, no Mayans were there. She probably works alone..."

The Scotsman had trailed off uncertain on whether or not to continue. The look on Clay's face urged him to although he seemed to be disgruntled at what had already been said. "...The tunnel we found seems to run a long ways. How long exactly we won't know until the prospect tells us."

Tig, who had been quiet up until this point, suddnely turned his icy blue hues to Jax. Whatever was on his mind had immediately allowed the VP to know that his next comment was about to stir up a disagreement. One that Chibs and the others were already anticipating would most likely end up making matters worse.

"This is Alvarez's sister," he used his finger and pressed it hard against the table. "Why in the hell would she want to parnter up with SAMCRO in the first place? If she agreed, then she's up to something. That's all I'm saying."

"Her realtionship with Alvarez is on unsteady ground," Jax quipped. "From what I could tell just mentioning him seemed to stir up something inside her."

"How do you know that?" Tig challenged and pointed that same finger straight at Jax. "If she plans to fuck us over, I'll gut the bitch. Simple as that." His eyes were daring Jax to interfere and prompt a retort.

Chibs sensed the tension that thickened in the room.

It caused him to rotate his chair slightly in Tig's direction should the need for him to step in and hold him back arose. He once again tapped on the end of his cigarette to rid of the ashes, his eyes burning a hole into the polished table before him.

"Is it a good place to store the guns?" Bobby inquired, as if he didn't notice the sudden air of uncertainty growing between Tig and Jax.

Clay paid no mind to the Sergeant-at-arms or to the Vice President. Instead, he puffed on his cigar and left the session open for Chibs to answer Bobby's question.

"The hatch itself took a long time to notice in the ground," Chibs answered. "Once we got it open it was huge. Six feet deep and four feet wide. Like I said before, I had the prospect go down to see where it leads."

Juice had leaned forward with his arms on the table to prop himself up. He was certain that he could provide a theory for all to agree on. "Most likely outside of Charming. Most of the prohibition tunnels were an easy escape route."

From the way Clay was looking at his cigar, Chibs could only assume that he was thinking hard on this deal that his stepson had made behind his back. The leader was calculating and weighing each pro and con with careful consideration. He then brought the cigar to his mouth, sucked on the end, and blew out a large puff of gray smoke.

The decision was made.

"We need leverage to hang over her head," he spoke, his tone cool but held a certain type of persteige that no one would dare to challenge. "Something good. If she proves herself loyal to SAMCRO, then we can trust her. Until then, I want a set of eyes watching her. Every move she makes I wanna know about it."

The club members nodded in agreement.

"Call a vote. All in favor," - Clay paused - "Yay."

* * *

><p>Maria was startled by the sound of her cellphone ringing.<p>

Her eyes quickly darted to the tiny black alarm clock that sat upon her television set in the living room.

**3:39 am**

She noticed that she had once again fallen asleep in the recliner, no doubt due to her mother's on going coughing that had kept her awake. Sleeping in her own bedroom would have been the better choice, but for some reason Maria felt comfortable in the large recliner.

_Shit_!

She quickly began fishing around for her cellphone before pulling it out of her pajama bottoms. Flipping it open she didn't recognize the number, but had answered it anyways.

"Hello?" She answered groggily.

"Get down here. Now."

It was Chibs, and by the sound of his voice he seemed upset. He hung up before she could question how he had obtained her number.

For a minute her heart stopped, believing that her brothers had found out about the deal she had made. Maria closed her eyes and tried to steady her sudden rapid breathing by taking a deep breath. She brought her hand up to comb away her bangs.

Shortly after, her mother's chronic coughing was heard.

Maria closed her phone and reluctantly got up off the comfortable chair. She made her way down the short hall before coming to a stop in the doorway of her mother's bedroom. The way the old woman slept seemed to tug at Maria's heartstrings.

A sigh left past her lips as she continued on into her room, grabbing the necessary items along the way, the darkness not all stopping her. She managed to wedge her feet into her sneakers, using the steady stream of moonlight coming from her mother's bedroom as light. Maria had then grabbed her keys from her dresser and walked down the hall towards the front door.

Twenty minutes later found her pulling up to gates in the back parking lot.

Maria stepped out of her vehicle and proceeded to unlock the steel fence that locked tresspassers away from her business. She slipped through with ease, her eyes scanning the dimlit area while carefully taking in everything her eyes laid upon. The market van was parked crookedly towards the right where the back door was located meaning that whoever had been driving was in a hurry to get out.

The sudden scent of cigarette smoke tantalized Maria's nostrils bringing her attention to the biker leaning casually against the brick wall. It took her no more than a minute to notice that it was Chibs.

"Your call was vague."

His hand brought the cigarette away from his mouth and threw it to the ground. "Someone attacked the van," his thick accent nearly made Maria misinterpret his words. "almost like they were looking for something."

"Shit." This was worse than Marcus finding out. "Why all of a sudden?"

He tilted his head slightly to the side, not knowing that she was questioning herself. "This hasn't happened before." More so a fact than a question.

She nodded while slowly lowering herself to sit on the back on the truck. Her expression grim and exhausted. Her eyes now held hints of dark circles appearing right under. Though her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail small wisps of black locks had managed to pry free from the band. She looked like shit, and she felt like it too. Maria normally kept her appearances maintained and presentable to the public, but now, in front of Chibs she didn't really care.

Besides, he didn't look like no male model anyways.

His salt and pepper goatee was slightly trimmed but it was still tacky. His short hair was unkempt and had looked as though he had rolled out of bed recently. Maybe he did. His eyes, which were as dark as coal, appeared fatigued even in the dimly lit lot. However, compared to her dark gray sweatpants and her black cardigan, Chibs at least had the decency to dress better than she did. As he stood under the light, Maria was able to make out the dark sunglasses once again propped on his forehead. He also wore a dark dress shirt underneath his cut.

"The guys never had problems like this," she paused and carefully constructed her next question. "How did you find out about this before I did?"

To her astonishment he answered her with no hesitation whatsoever. "I was following you for a little while earlier. Went to the clubhouse, fooled around and came back through here noticing them walking around in the lot."

Maria's face had threatened to deadpan at the way Chibs had nonchalantly mentioned he'd been following her earlier that day. She knew more or less that he had done so either though orders from Jax Teller or Clay Morrow.

She had done her research on the Sons of Anarchy. According to Hale, they were a band of outlaws who took part in illegal ways to obtain their money. She already knew that, but the deputy chief had also mentioned some personal details about them. More so of Jax and his baby boy who was currently fighting to live. When Hale questioned her sudden interest in the local outlaw group she had blamed her curiosity and the fact that she was new to Charming.

"Shit," she muttered.

Chibs had suddenly taken a step closer towards her, successfully closing the distance between them. His eyes bore into her own before he opened his mouth to speak. "Did you tell anyone?"

Maria should have been used to the suspicion, but the fact that it had been him who had made the accusation, she had to admit it stung a little.

"Of course not. Who the hell would I tell anyways?"

A raise of his brow indicated that he didn't believe her. "Oh, so, what? Just because I'm a woman I'm suddenly going to tell everyone within a one mile radius?"

"I didn't say that." He answered, his eyes sweeping her form from head to toe, scrutinizing her down to the tiniest detail.

Maria assumed that Chibs was just merely exhausted and that was why he was acting this way. He took a step back towards the wall he was originally leaning against. His booted foot was once again pressed up against the brick wall as he shoved one hand into the pocket of his dark jeans and produced a carton of smokes two seconds later. Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed as she noticed they were the only two there.

"Where is everybody?"

"The rest had gone home, but the other two are in the storage area," - he stuck a cigarette between his lips - "they didn't want to talk to me."

Chibs didn't sound upset by the fact, but there was an underlying tone of discontent at the fact that they weren't willing to give up information of the attack. He held out the carton to her to which she accepted by pulling out one stick. Once he had pocketed it, he took out his lighter and leaned forward towards her. Maria leaned halfway, their faces inches apart as he lit her cigarette.

"Thanks."

He nodded and brought the lighter to light his own.

"Well to be honest," Maria began. "they don't exactly trust SAMCRO, or any other people outside the family."

The right corner of his lip lifted up for a split second before he looked away. "I'm serious."

The Scotsman gazed back to look at the woman. His index finger and thumb pulled the stick away from his mouth which was followed by a puff of gray smoke. "Get in there and get some information out o' them."

"You don't wanna tag along and intimidate them some more?"

"Darlin', I'm exhausted. I'm about as intimidatin' as my mum," he paused and gave a small shrug. "and she ain't all that intimidating."

She smiled and got up from her seat. Her lips wrapped around the end of the cigarette before she inhaled for a third time; Maria had then threw it to the ground and stomped on it before walking towards the door. It was only after she opened the door did she notice that he had followed her inside.

The two men she had hired for this early run were sitting atop of some of the empty fruit crates. Both of them were sharing a conversation completely devoid of English and neither of them had noticed her walking through the door with Chibs close behind. Maria stopped beside one of them as both seized their conversation just before turning to look at her.

Though she was completely unaware of the true motive behind their stares, Chibs could instantly tell that both men were eyeballing the thirty year old woman. He stood firmly to her right while watching her converse with the one she was standing next to in Spanish. She folded her arms over chest as she continued to question them, not at all fazed by the way their eyes seemed to be traveling elsewhere.

Sure, Chibs could admit that she was a good looking woman; nevertheless, he wasn't undressing her with his eyes the way these two were. Yes, he would always let his wandering eyes do the talking, but that was only when he was garnering the attention of a crow-eater. Maria wasn't a crow-eater, she was a business partner with SAMCRO, and although they couldn't trust her quite yet it didn't mean that he couldn't at least be somewhat civilized with her.

While they were talking he caught the gaze of the other Mexican male. As exhaustion was beginning to overwhelm Chibs he managed to channel that and work it in his favor of intimidation. His gloved hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy item. The other man watched as the Scotsman suddenly flipped it open to reveal that it was a switchblade.

The man turned away and focused on his friend with whom Maria was extracting information out of. Chibs repressed the smirk and instead played around with the knife.

"A pack of four guys, they all had hoods up covering their faces," she said, "he said that they followed them from the harbor to a side road before cutting him off with their bikes."

Chibs turned to face her. "No cuts?"

She shook her head with a disappointed look etched onto her features. "They knew when to hit to search for something."

"They couldn't have been lookin' for the guns. We haven't even started movin' them in yet."

"Maybe just harassment," Maria suggested. "we get it all the time. Whites?"

"They don't ride bikes," Chibs snapped his blade close with a flick of his wrist. "only the Mayans and us."

She had then threw her arms up before they fell to her sides again. "How the hell are you gonna move your guns here if someone is gonna be attacking my guys every morning?"

He had a plan, but he would have to bring it to Jax's attention before he did anything. In the meantime, he suggested that they head back home and reassured her that SAMCRO would deal with the problem.

Maria's drivers had gone home, and she was sure that they wouldn't be returning. Not after this. She couldn't deal with this right now, all she could do was cast it aside and worry about getting enough sleep to get her through the day. She had only fallen asleep for an hour before Chibs had called her, and now she was running on fumes. Both stepped out of the storage area just as she locked the door and moved to begin cleaning out the truck before he stopped her.

"You're falling asleep. Go home, I'll have the prospect clean it up later."

"This is a day's loss of product," Maria realized, bitterness seeping into her tone. "which means I'm gonna have to close for the day."

Chibs's arm had encircled around her shoulders, and although she would have welcomed it at any other given moment, right now she didn't want to be touched. She was irritated, tired, and upset that this had decided to be thrusted at her. Another 'fuck you' as she saw it.

"Nay, the prospect can get another shipment. Bring it back before you open." He sounded so sure, but even she knew he must have been tired from his night's wild escapades. Besides, the company wouldn't offer another shipment even if the attack wasn't her fault.

Maria shrugged out of his grasp as she made her way to her car. Her vision growing weary while a yawn threatened to slip past her lips.

"You're only responsible for watching over the guns," she said.

He laughed. It was a deep chuckle to be exact, one that Maria had found amusing even at four in the morning. "Why do you think I'm offering to pick up another shipment?"

"It's late, I'm tired. I have a busy schedule Chibs," she stopped with her fingers looping through the holes of the gate as she turned around to face him. The sudden remembrance of him carrying a switchblade had somehow provoked her curiosity. "Why did you have a switchblade out?"

Had she been paying close attention she would have saw the way he was looking at her. "One of them was giving me a dirty look." Maria would have also noticed the slight hesitation in the way he answered her.

"Oh," she needed to hurry back home. "I figured...since you had those scars you wouldn't be carrying that around."

Filip Telford's lips formed a knowing smirk, his hand reaching up to tap at his scars. "That wasn't the knife that did this to me."

Maria's tongue held the question. The one she'd been wanting to ask since the day she had first acknowledged those scars, but she held back if only because she figured it would be rude to intrude on his painful memory. She wanted to know though, the curiosity was eating away at her like a flesh-eating parasite, slowly making it unbearable.

That was his life. She didn't even know his real name, where he grew up, or if he had family back in his homeland. It was peculiar that Maria was suddenly interested in Chibs's life. She was supposed to tolerate him and SAMCRO's presence, she wasn't supposed to take a sudden interest in him and become best friends forever. It went against her brothers if she were to get too close to a member of SAMCRO.

She needed sleep. Later on she'd forget about thinking of him in that way.

"Who gave them to you?"

Her mouth had betrayed her and now she hoped he hadn't heard.

But Chibs did hear her question, and without another word he began closing the distance between them. She counted four strides, and soon enough he appeared right in front of her. He gazed into her eyes with the same look of indifference he had yesterday, and he leaned in for the third time that morning as though there were people around them, and whatever he had to say could only be heard by her.

"You're not a friend of the Sons, you're just a business partner. Until we can trust you otherwise, I ain't tellin' you a goddamn thing about me."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I'm happy with how this story is going to turn out. Once again, thank you guys for the reviews and the for the favorite/alert. I really appreciate them! I also edited a whole lot because I was literally falling asleep while writing this. Sorry for the prior mistakes. _


	5. Chapter 5

It had been two weeks since the deal had been made with the youngest Alvarez.

Though the random attack on her food supplier still remained unsolved, it had never happened again after that day. Jax chose to brush it aside, but Chibs still kept it in mind.

It was smooth sailing from then on, and the more he spent time with her, the more he found that her company was rather gratifying. It didn't mean that he let his guard down around her; no, he made sure to keep an eye on her whenever possible.

In the meantime, he had to admit that being around someone else outside of the club was refreshing in some ways. Their small talks would remind him of the ones he had often shared with Fiona. The good old days, he concluded, before he was forced to leave. He resisted the urge to touch his scars and instead decided to find out why the storage area was suddenly still and silent.

Removing the sunglasses from his face, he made his way over towards the prospect in three easy strides.

The older man smacked his hand against the kid's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

The prospect turned at his sudden presence before hooking his thumb over towards the office adjacent from his spot. "She's been in the room all day."

"Doing what?"

"I dunno," Sack responded. "She didn't say a word when we were unloading the first half of the guns."

That was odd.

The Scotsman decided not to question the prospect further; he instead began making his way towards the office where she had supposedly locked herself in. He noticed that the blinds of the only window were drawn shut which prevented him from seeing inside.

He reached the door and raised his hand to knock upon it, but at the last second it suddenly opened. Maria stood before him with the blank look she usually sported whenever something was bugging her. He had picked up on that during their short time together.

"I'm fine," she answered almost as if she sensed his unspoken question.

"Are you?" Chibs prompted with clear doubt present in his tone.

She wasn't about to admit anything to him, that much he could tell. Maria had her fair share of secrets, ones that she didn't divulge to him or any other person as for as he could understand.

"Family shit," she answered automatically as though that would stop him from pursuing it. "My mom's been on me about the market."

Chibs sensed that what she said was only half the truth. The rest would remain unknown to him unless he sought after it.

"I have to take her to the hospital," Maria spoke before he could. "Alicia's gonna watch the store."

Funny, the whole reason he had come back was to tell her that they would be storing more guns. Jax and Opie were most likely on their way now. She needed to be here in case things would become complicated by the sudden appearance of her brothers.

"You can't go."

"Why not?"

Chibs pressed his palm against the pane of the doorway, successfully blocking her in just as she had tried to step past him.

"They're coming by to drop off another load," he explained. "How's it gonna look if your brothers happen to pass by?"

Maria folded her arms. "She won't listen to me when I tell her she needs to keep up the meds, but she'll listen to a doctor."

He remembered Maria mentioning that her mother's health was deteriorating, and that she was as stubborn as a mule. The old woman refused to take any type of medication that wasn't prescribed by the family doctor—who had passed away when Maria went away to college—the dutiful daughter tried her best to keep Mrs. Alvarez as healthy as she could, but it was a very hard thing to do.

Chibs's mother had been the same in that regard. His mother was dead set on the old ways, and she refused to become acquainted with the way things were now.

"You can't go," he repeated, this time with a sense of frustration in his tone. "You need to be here."

"She needs to keep this appointment."

As frustrated as Chibs was he wasn't in the mood to argue with her. In fact, he wasn't one who took pleasure in arguing with a woman especially over something so trivial. But Jax was counting on him to deal with Maria—much to Chibs's chagrin—for he said that she was civil towards the Scottish biker. Though, Chibs suspected that Jax merely said that because he didn't like dealing with the woman, perhaps because he knew she outright didn't like him.

He remained calm and leaned his head forward in order for him to whisper. "Get your brother to take her. She can still keep her appointment and it'll keep _him_ away."

Maria scoffed. "Chibs, my mother and my brother are not exactly on speaking terms."

"_You_ need to be here when they drop off the guns. We made this deal with you and you only. No one else."

"I just don't see why you guys have to do this now."

"Don't question the club," he spoke, his voice low and ominous.

She wanted to keep the argument going, he could tell by her body language. He noticed the way she clenched her hands into tight fists, her eyes narrowed at Chibs in clear anger, and her lips had pulled in.

"Don't question the club," Chibs repeated. "It won't do you any good. Do what you're told and there won't be a problem."

"I'll see what I can do," Maria said begrudgingly.

The biker accepted her response and stepped off to the side to allow her to pass. Once Maria disappeared through the double doors, he seized the opportunity to look around her office and promptly shut the door behind him.

He didn't know exactly where to begin looking, and so he opted to pull out the first drawer. Chibs delved into the stack of papers and miscellaneous things that were thrown in there. The corner of his mouth lifted up as he attempted to open the second drawer only to discover that it was locked. He delved into his pocket and pulled out the switchblade.

With a flick of his wrist it snapped open as he wedged the tip of the blade into the lock. His brown eyes flickered towards the door, pausing for a second at the sound of the footsteps that drew nearer. He quickly focused on getting the lock open; his brow creased and his frustration grew as he continued to pick the lock.

"Oh, hey, she's-"

Chibs quickly turned and found Sack standing in the doorway. Quickly, he rose to his feet, grabbed his switchblade, and began pushing the prospect out while firmly shutting the door behind him.

"Goddammit prospect," he muttered.

"Sorry man," Sack apologized while sending a look over his shoulder. "She was coming back in the store. Had to let you know."

Maria came through the double doors and found both of them standing outside the door. She passed Chibs a questioning look and made her way towards them while stuffing her cellphone back in her front pocket.

"My sister-in-law will take my ma. They weren't at the house when I called. Teresa said they had just left to go somewhere." She looked from Chibs to Sack before she added. "You guys sure don't look suspicious."

"Oh we don't, eh?" Chibs then nudged Sack in the ribs and gestured his head toward him. "He was looking for the bathroom."

She nodded her head towards the right. "Down that way."

Sack looked at Chibs, to which the Scotsman purposely looked away from him in order for the kid to get the hint. Seconds later, he took off down the path she pointed out to him. Once Chibs heard the door close, he looked back and found Maria gazing at him with such intensity.

"Is it the scars again?"

"Did you find anything?" she sneered. "I know what you were really up to."

"What am I up to then?" Chibs countered, his tone rather condescending.

"Never mind," Maria muttered and moved around him to enter the office door. "Let me know when they come."

* * *

><p>It wasn't as if she didn't particularly enjoy their company every once in a while.<p>

Maria could admit to some degree that the Sons of Anarchy were quite their own characters. They all shared the club in common, sure, but they each had their own person that helped build it to where it was. In the time that she spent observing from a distance, she was able to make up her own assumptions about what each man was like. She usually did so to help pass the time, but it soon developed into a hobby.

She watched them load the crates down below into the abyss, with the prospect and the quiet one, Opie, down there to help stack them. It was usually Jax and Chibs who preferred to be up top and load them down to them.

Jax seemed to be quite tense about something, whether it had to do with personal or business matters, Maria couldn't tell. Perhaps it was a mix of both, with personal matters conflicting with business in the club. He was polite with her as far as greetings went, but she wouldn't expect a warm invitation to dinner at his parent's house anytime soon. Not that she would accept it.

Her thumbnail continued to pick the dirt from underneath her nails as she kept watch. Her brown eyes would dart from the double doors and back to them every few minutes or so. She wouldn't expect her brothers to be dropping by anytime soon. If Teresa was telling the truth, then Marcus and Alfonso were most likely handling business elsewhere.

"Hey."

She turned to see Jax gesturing for her to come over.

_Did I do something wrong already? _Maria carefully stepped off the wooden stool and made her way towards both bikers. She came to a stop just as Jax lowered the last crate to Opie.

The blonde biker handed her a clipboard. "We need you to keep track of the shipments we bring here."

Was he absolutely serious? "You want me to keep track," Maria repeated slowly, "of the shipments."

Jax's eyes flickered from Chibs to her. "Is that a problem? Say it now if it is."

Maria could feel her own irritation rising. "No. There's no problem. It just seems a little far-fetched that you want to keep paperwork."

Before Jax could snap back with a retort, Chibs stepped in not only acting as a physical barrier between them, but also as the middle man. She could tell that he didn't want any confrontation, but she could also make out the stare he was giving her.

_I really need to stop questioning people._

"Jacky-boy wants you to keep track for our own records. By the end of each month, our secretary will need the records to be updated. Keep it on hand."

She nodded in understanding before reluctantly locking gazes with Jax. "I have a drawer that has a lock on it."

He gave her a feigned half-smile. "Do what you gotta do."

He turned away and began speaking with Opie, in the same moment, Chibs followed Maria back to the office before the clear sound of voices could be heard coming from the front of the store. She took a moment to listen to them, and when Chibs attempted to question her sudden stop, she promptly shushed him and strained to listen.

"She's back here? Isn't she?"

Maria instantly placed the clipboard atop of a stack of boxes, and made her way towards the double doors before he could enter.

Chibs watched after her, a confused expression on his face, as he slowly eased himself against the wall. He noticed that Jax and the guys seized their own movements as Maria reached the entryway and wedged her way through to stop the man.

"I knew you were back here, _tia_."

Maria repressed the urge to look back over her shoulder, and instead she gazed up at the young man and gave him a warm, genuine smile.

"Esai, what are you doing here?"

* * *

><p><em>An: Sorry for the late update! Shit's been getting in the way these past months but everything's fine now! I'll be updating this summer, so I hope you guys are still very much interested. I have a lot planned for this series. _


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